Terms beginning with J
491 headwords
- JIn case citations the letter stands for judge or justice, as in J. for a single judge and JJ. for several.
- J.DJuris Doctor: the law degree most American law schools confer.
- J.NA made-up name for an unknown party to a case, usually the first one. It is short for John who dwells at the oak.
- J.PJustice of the peace: a local judicial officer with power over minor criminal offenses and small civil disputes, who…
- J.SA made-up name for an unknown party to a case, usually the second one. It is short for John who dwells at the stile.
- JAJudge advocate: a legal adviser on a military commander's staff, and more broadly any officer of the Judge Advocate G…
- JacThe Latin form of the name James, used chiefly in citing statutes passed in the reigns of English kings of that name.
- JacensLying, fallen, or in abeyance.
- Jackson standardThe rule that where a convicted defendant argues the evidence was insufficient, an appeals court asks whether, taking…
- Jackson-Denno hearingA hearing held out of the jury's presence to decide whether the defendant's confession was voluntary and so admissible.
- jactitationA false boast or claim that causes harm to another.
- jactitation of marriageFalsely and harmfully claiming to be married to someone; also the action brought against a person who makes such a cl…
- jacturaThrowing goods overboard to lighten or save a vessel; also the loss so incurred, which is shared as general average.
- JAGJudge Advocate General: the senior legal officer and chief legal adviser of the Army, Navy, or Air Force.
- JAG ManualThe Secretary of the Navy's directive on military justice, with minor differences between the rules for the Navy and…
- jailA place holding people awaiting trial and people serving sentences for minor offenses.
- jail creditTime a defendant spends locked up awaiting trial, which is usually deducted from the sentence if they are convicted.
- jail deliveryAn escape from a jail by several prisoners at once. Formerly the phrase meant a clearing-out procedure under which ev…
- jail libertiesThe area around a jail or prison within which certain prisoners could move about freely, usually after posting a bond…
- jailerA keeper, guard, or warden of a prison or jail.
- jailhouseA place holding people awaiting trial and people serving sentences for minor offenses.
- jailhouse lawyerA prison inmate who works at winning release through legal procedures, or who dispenses legal advice to other inmates.
- Jamaican switchA confidence trick in which one swindler persuades the victim that help is needed with a large sum of money, usually…
- James hearingA hearing to decide whether a co-conspirator's out-of-court statements may be admitted, by asking whether a conspirac…
- Jane DoeA made-up name for a female party to a case, used where her real identity is unknown or is being withheld.
- Janus-facedHaving two contrasting or contradictory aspects; two-faced.
- Jason clauseA clause in a bill of lading requiring cargo owners to contribute in general average even where the loss came of the…
- jaywalkingCrossing a street in disregard of the traffic rules, as by crossing between intersections or away from a crosswalk.
- JCPJustice of the Common Pleas.
- Jedburgh justiceRough justice in which the punishment comes first and the trial, if any, afterwards. The phrase comes from the Scotti…
- Jeddart justiceRough justice in which the punishment comes first and the trial, if any, afterwards, named after the border town of J…
- jedge and warrantIn Scots law, the authority the Dean of Guild gave to rebuild or repair a ruinous tenement.
- Jedwood justiceRough justice in which the punishment comes first and the trial, if any, afterwards, named after the border town of J…
- Jencks materialIn criminal procedure, a prosecution witness's earlier written or recorded statement, which the defense may demand on…
- Jensen doctrineThe rule that states may not apply their workers' compensation statutes to maritime workers hurt on navigable waters…
- jeofailA slip or oversight in pleading; also the admission of such a slip.
- jeopardyThe risk of conviction and punishment a defendant faces at trial. It attaches when the jury is sworn in, or, in a tri…
- Jeopardy assessmentAn assessment of extra tax by the IRS without the usual review procedures, made where the IRS believes that waiting w…
- jetsamGoods thrown overboard that sink and stay under the water.
- jettisonThrowing cargo overboard deliberately to lighten or steady a ship in immediate danger.
- jeux de bourseSpeculation in stocks or bonds, as by dealing in options or futures.
- Jewell instructionA jury instruction that a defendant may be found to have had the required guilty mind despite deliberately keeping th…
- Jim Crow lawA law passed, or deliberately construed, to discriminate against Black people, such as one requiring separate restroo…
- jingle ruleThe rule that partnership creditors have first claim on partnership assets and personal creditors first claim on a pa…
- JJJudges, or justices, in the plural.
- JNOVJudgment notwithstanding the verdict: a judgment the court enters for one party even though the jury found for the ot…
- jobA piece of work; a task taken on for a fixed price rather than for wages by time.
- job actionA concerted, temporary action by employees, such as a sick-out or a work slowdown, meant to pressure management into…
- job securityProtection of an employee's job, often secured through a union contract.
- job-targeting programA union initiative to hold or build its share of the work in a market by funding or backing contractors who bid on ch…
- jobberA person who buys from a manufacturer and sells on to retailers: a wholesaler or middleman. The word also means a mid…
- jobberyTurning a public office or service to private advantage; the use of unfair means to serve private interests.
- John DoeA made-up name used in a case for someone whose identity is unknown, whose known identity is being protected, or to s…
- John Doe summonsA summons issued to a person whose name is unknown when it is served. In tax law it means an IRS summons to a third p…
- John-a-NokesA made-up name for an unknown party to a case, usually the first one. It is short for John who dwells at the oak.
- John-a-StilesA made-up name for an unknown party to a case, usually the second one. It is short for John who dwells at the stile.
- joinTo unite parties or claims in a single lawsuit.
- joinderThe uniting of parties or claims in a single lawsuit.
- joinder in demurrerIn common-law pleading, a set form of words by which a party accepts a legal issue the other side has raised, above a…
- joinder in issueThe submission of an issue jointly for decision; also the acceptance of a disputed point as the ground on which the a…
- joinder in pleadingIn common-law pleading, one party's acceptance of the issue and mode of trial the other has proposed.
- joinder of errorA written denial of the errors alleged in an assignment of errors on appeal.
- joinder of issueThe submission of an issue jointly for decision; also the acceptance of a disputed point as the ground on which the a…
- joinder of offensesCharging an accused with two or more crimes as separate counts in a single indictment or information. Unless the coun…
- joinder of remediesThe joining of alternative claims, such as breach of contract and quantum meruit, or of a claim with a related prospe…
- jointCommon to or shared by two or more people; also, of people, acting together or combined.
- joint accountA bank or brokerage account opened by two or more people, each entitled to all the money in it, and passing on death…
- joint actionAn action brought by two or more claimants together, or against two or more defendants together.
- joint activityIn civil-rights law, action a private person takes together with a government body or official, so that the private p…
- joint administrationIn bankruptcy, the running of two or more estates, usually of related debtors, under a single docket for administrati…
- Joint adventureA business undertaking by two or more people engaged on a single defined project. It requires an agreement, express o…
- joint and mutual willA will made by two or more people, disposing of property they own separately, in common, or jointly, which binds the…
- joint and reciprocal willA will made by two or more people, disposing of property they own separately, in common, or jointly, which binds the…
- joint and severalOf liability, able to be enforced either against all the parties together or against any one of them alone, as the cl…
- joint and several bondA bond whose principal and interest are guaranteed by two or more obligors, each liable for the whole.
- joint and several liabilityLiability that the claimant may enforce against all the liable parties together or against any one of them alone. Eac…
- joint and several noteA note on which several makers are each liable for the whole debt, so that the payee may look to all of them together…
- joint annuityAn annuity payable to two people until one of them dies, when it comes to an end for the survivor unless the contract…
- joint authorsIn copyright law, two or more authors who work together on a copyrightable work, each meaning their contribution to m…
- Joint ballotA vote by the members of both legislative houses sitting together as a single body.
- joint boardA committee, usually made up of equal numbers from management and the union, set up to hear and settle grievances.
- joint bondA bond signed by two or more obligors. Unlike a joint and several bond, every obligor must be joined in any action br…
- joint committeeA legislative committee made up of members of both houses.
- joint contractA contract in which two or more promisors are bound together to perform, or in which two or more promisees are togeth…
- joint covenantA covenant that binds two or more covenantors together.
- joint creditorA creditor entitled, along with another creditor, to demand payment from the debtor.
- joint custodyAn arrangement in which both parents share responsibility for and authority over the child at all times.
- joint debtorOne of two or more debtors jointly liable for the same debt.
- joint defendantOne of two or more defendants sued in the same case or charged with the same crime.
- joint demiseIn an ejectment action, a demise made by two or more people in one declaration.
- joint employmentA job in which two or more organizations together control the essential terms of the employee's work, as where a comp…
- joint enterpriseIn criminal law, an undertaking by two or more people who set out to commit an offense they have agreed on. In tort l…
- joint estateAny of five kinds of shared estate: a joint tenancy, a tenancy in common, an estate in coparcenary, a tenancy by the…
- joint executorOne of two or more people named in a will as executor of an estate.
- joint heirA person who inherits together with one or more others, each taking a share of the estate.
- joint indictmentAn indictment charging two or more people with an offense.
- joint liabilityLiability shared by two or more parties.
- joint life insuranceLife insurance on two or more people, which pays out to the survivors when the first of them dies.
- joint life policyA life policy that falls due on the death of whichever of the joint insureds dies first.
- joint mortgageA mortgage given to two or more mortgagees together.
- joint negligenceThe negligence of two or more people acting together to cause an accident.
- joint noteA note on which several makers are liable together but not individually, so that the payee must look to all of them j…
- joint obligationAn obligation binding two or more debtors to a single performance for one creditor, or binding one debtor to a single…
- joint offenseAn offense, such as conspiracy, that takes two or more people to commit.
- joint ownershipOwnership shared by two or more people whose interests pass on death to the survivors by right of survivorship.
- joint participationIn civil-rights law, action a private person takes together with a government body or official, so that the private p…
- joint rateA single rate two or more carriers charge together to cover a shipment travelling over one route.
- joint resolutionA resolution passed by both legislative houses. It has the force of law and the executive may veto it.
- joint returnA tax return spouses file together. It may be filed even if only one had income, though each spouse is usually indivi…
- joint sessionA sitting of two legislative bodies together, such as the House and the Senate, to deal with common business.
- joint tariffA schedule of rates set by two or more carriers for shipments between places that require the use of all their facili…
- joint tenancyA tenancy in which two or more co-owners take identical interests at the same time, by the same instrument, with the…
- joint tortfeasorsTwo or more wrongdoers who each contributed to the claimant's injury and who may be sued together in the same action.
- joint trespassA trespass two or more people joined in committing, or that some committed while others ordered, encouraged, or direc…
- joint trialA trial of two or more parties together, above all a criminal trial of several people for the same or similar offenses.
- Joint trusteeOne of two or more people in whom a trust is vested, who together form a single trustee and must act jointly.
- joint ventureA business undertaking by two or more people on a single defined project. It requires an agreement, express or implie…
- joint verdictA verdict covering two or more parties to the case.
- joint welfare fundA fund set up in collective bargaining to pay health and welfare benefits to union members, run jointly by representa…
- joint willA single will made by two or more testators, usually disposing of property they hold in common by passing their separ…
- joint-and-survivorship accountA bank or brokerage account opened by two or more people, each with a present right to all the money in it, and with…
- joint-check ruleThe rule that where an owner or general contractor pays by a check made out jointly to a subcontractor and the subcon…
- joint-defense privilegeThe rule allowing parties with a shared legal interest, such as codefendants and their lawyers, to exchange privilege…
- joint-stock associationAn unincorporated association whose members put up common capital divided into shares, each holding shares in proport…
- joint-stock companyAn unincorporated association whose members put up the capital, which is divided into shares held in proportion to wh…
- joint-venture corporationA company that has joined with one or more people or companies to carry out a particular project.
- joint-welfare fundA fund set up in collective bargaining to pay health and welfare benefits to union members, run jointly by representa…
- jointressA woman who holds a jointure.
- jointureA life estate in land settled on a woman in consideration of marriage, in place of dower, and enjoyed by her only aft…
- jointuressA woman who holds a jointure.
- jokerAn ambiguous clause slipped into a bill to make it inoperative or uncertain in some respect without drawing objection…
- Jones ActThe federal statute letting a seaman injured at work sue the employer in negligence for damages, and letting the seam…
- Jones Act vesselA craft built or used to carry cargo or people on navigable waters, or in use for navigation when a worker was hurt.…
- jourDay.
- journalA book or record kept from day to day, as of a legislature's proceedings or a ship's voyage. In double-entry bookkeep…
- journal entryAn entry in an accounting journal of matching debits and credits, sometimes with a note explaining the transaction re…
- journal of notarial actsA notary public's running record of official acts, usually a bound book noting the date, time, and kind of each act,…
- journalist's privilegeA reporter's qualified right to refuse to reveal confidential sources or unpublished material, recognized by statute…
- journeys accountsThe number of days, usually fifteen, allowed after a writ was quashed for getting out a new one, reckoned by how long…
- joyriderA person who takes someone else's car for a ride without permission, meaning to return it rather than to keep it.
- joyridingDriving someone else's car without permission but with no intention of keeping it for good.
- jubereTo order, direct, or command; also to promise or give an assurance.
- judexIn Roman law, a private citizen appointed by a praetor or other magistrate to hear and decide a case. Such judges wer…
- judex a quoIn civil law, the judge from whom an appeal is taken.
- judex ad quemIn civil law, the judge to whom an appeal is taken.
- judex ordinariusIn civil law, a judge with jurisdiction of his own rather than by delegation from someone else.
- judex pedaneusIn Roman law, a judge to whom minor cases were sent: an inferior or deputy judge.
- judex quaestionisIn Roman law, the presiding officer of a criminal jury, usually a magistrate ranking below praetor.
- judex specialisIn Roman law, a judge appointed to hear one particular case rather than holding a standing commission.
- judgeA public official, appointed or elected, who hears and decides legal matters in court.
- judge advocateA legal adviser on a military commander's staff; more broadly, any officer of the Judge Advocate General's Corps or o…
- Judge Advocate GeneralThe senior legal officer and chief legal adviser of the Army, Navy, or Air Force.
- judge of probateA judge with jurisdiction over probate, inheritance, guardianship, and similar matters.
- judge ordinaryThe judge of the English Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes between 1857 and 1875.
- judge pro temporeA judge assigned by the presiding judge of a region to sit temporarily on a court, usually while the regular judge is…
- judge trialA trial before a judge sitting without a jury, so that the judge decides the facts as well as the law.
- judge-made lawLaw established by judicial precedent rather than by statute; also the law that results when judges read a statute ag…
- judge-shoppingFiling several suits on the same claims in a court or district with several judges, hoping one of them lands before a…
- judgementA court's final determination of the rights and obligations of the parties in a case. The word takes in a decree and…
- judgeshipThe office or authority of a judge; also the time a judge holds it.
- judgmentA court's final determination of the rights and obligations of the parties in a case. The word takes in a decree and…
- judgment as a matter of lawA judgment given during a jury trial, before or after the verdict, against a party on an issue for which no reasonabl…
- judgment bookA book the court clerk keeps for entering judgments, which gives official notice of existing judgment liens to anyone…
- judgment by defaultA judgment entered against a defendant who fails to plead or otherwise defend, often by not turning up; also a judgme…
- judgment creditorSomeone entitled to enforce a judgment for a definite sum of money.
- judgment debtA debt established by a court judgment or arising from a successful lawsuit against the debtor.
- judgment debtorSomeone against whom a money judgment has been entered but not yet paid.
- judgment docketA book the court clerk keeps recording judgments, which gives official notice of existing judgment liens to anyone in…
- judgment fileA book the court clerk keeps for entering judgments, which gives official notice of existing judgment liens to anyone…
- judgment homologating the tableauIn civil law, a judgment approving a plan for distributing the property of a dead person's estate. The plan itself is…
- judgment in personamA judgment imposing personal liability on the defendant, enforceable against any of the defendant's property the cour…
- judgment in remA judgment settling the status or condition of property, which operates on the property itself and binds everyone.
- judgment in retraxitA judgment entered where the plaintiff has voluntarily withdrawn the claim, which bars them from bringing it again.
- judgment inter partesA judgment binding only the parties to the case and those claiming through them, as opposed to one binding the world.
- judgment lienA lien placed on a judgment debtor's non-exempt property, giving the creditor the right to seize it.
- judgment nil capiat per billaJudgment that the plaintiff take nothing by the bill: a take-nothing judgment in a case begun by bill.
- judgment nil capiat per breveJudgment that the plaintiff take nothing by the writ: a take-nothing judgment in a case begun by writ.
- judgment nisiA provisional judgment that is not yet final but may be made final on a party's motion.
- judgment non obstante veredictoA judgment entered for one party even though the jury returned a verdict for the other, because no reasonable jury co…
- judgment noteA non-negotiable promissory note, unlawful in most states, containing a power of attorney to appear and confess judgm…
- judgment notwithstanding the verdictA judgment entered for one party even though the jury returned a verdict for the other, because no reasonable jury co…
- judgment of acquittalA judgment acquitting the defendant, given on the defendant's motion or the court's own, because the evidence is insu…
- judgment of bloodA sentence of death.
- judgment of convictionThe written record of a criminal judgment, containing the plea, the verdict or findings, the adjudication, and the se…
- judgment of dismissalA final disposal of a case without any trial on its merits.
- judgment of nolle prosequiA judgment entered against a plaintiff who, having appeared but before any judgment on the merits, decides to abandon…
- judgment of nonsuitA judgment against a plaintiff who fails to appear to hear the verdict, or who, after issue is joined, does not bring…
- judgment of repleaderIn common-law pleading, an order made on the motion of a party who lost the verdict, requiring both sides to plead af…
- judgment of retraxitA judgment against a plaintiff who has voluntarily withdrawn the claim, which bars them from bringing it again.
- judgment on the meritsA judgment resting on the evidence rather than on a technical or procedural point.
- judgment on the pleadingsA judgment resting on the pleadings alone, without regard to anything outside them.
- judgment on the verdictA judgment entered for the party in whose favor the jury returned its verdict.
- judgment quasi in remA judgment resting on the court's power over the defendant's interest in property within the state, rather than on po…
- judgment quod billa casseturJudgment that the bill be quashed: a judgment for the defendant.
- judgment quod breve casseturJudgment that the writ be quashed: a judgment for the defendant.
- judgment quod computetThe first judgment in an action of account, ordering the defendant to account before auditors.
- judgment quod recuperetJudgment that the plaintiff recover.
- judgment recordA book the court clerk keeps for entering judgments, which gives official notice of existing judgment liens to anyone…
- judgment respondeat ousterAn interlocutory judgment requiring a defendant who has pleaded only a delaying point to put forward a substantial de…
- judgment rollA book the court clerk keeps for entering judgments, which gives official notice of existing judgment liens to anyone…
- judgment saleA forced sale of a debtor's property by an official carrying out a writ of execution.
- judgment-proofOf a debtor, unable to satisfy a money judgment because they own nothing, own nothing within the court's reach, or ho…
- judgmental immunityThe rule that a professional is not liable to a client for advice given in good faith and honestly believed to serve…
- judicableCapable of being adjudicated; triable.
- judicareTo judge, to decide judicially, or to pass sentence.
- judicativeHaving the function of judging; belonging to the work of a judge.
- judicatorA person authorized to act as a judge.
- judicatoryHaving to do with judgment, or serving as a basis on which a judgment can be made.
- judicatureThe work of judging and administering justice through the courts; also the branch of government that interprets the l…
- Judicature ActsThe statutes that reorganized the superior courts of England in 1875, merging law and equity into a single Supreme Co…
- judicesJudges: the plural of judex.
- judicia publicaIn Roman law, public prosecutions: proceedings for offenses against the state, which any citizen might bring, as oppo…
- judicialHaving to do with a court or a judge, or done in court.
- judicial actAn act involving the exercise of judicial power.
- judicial activismAn approach to judging in which the judge lets personal views about public policy, among other things, shape decision…
- judicial activity reportA regular report, usually monthly or quarterly, on the caseload and flow of work in a court or court system.
- judicial administrationThe doing of justice through a system of courts.
- judicial admissionA formal waiver of proof, which frees the other side from having to prove the admitted fact and stops the party who m…
- judicial arbitrationArbitration ordered by a court, whose award is final unless a party objects to it.
- Judicial ArticleArticle III of the Constitution, which creates the Supreme Court, lets Congress create lower federal courts, gives fe…
- Judicial assizeAn assize begun by judicial writ, growing out of the pleas of gage, mort d'ancestor, and darrein presentment.
- judicial biasBias a judge forms in the course of a trial. It is usually not enough on its own to disqualify the judge; to justify…
- judicial bondA bond indemnifying the opposing party in a lawsuit against loss from delay or from being deprived of property becaus…
- judicial branchThe branch of government made up of the courts, whose task is to interpret, apply, and enforce the laws.
- judicial bypassA procedure letting someone get a court's approval for something that would otherwise need another person's consent,…
- judicial cognizanceA court's acceptance of a well-known and indisputable fact without requiring proof of it, and the court's power to do…
- judicial combatTrial by battle: the old procedure of settling a dispute by armed combat between the parties or their champions.
- judicial comityThe respect one state's or country's court shows another's by giving effect to its laws and judgments.
- Judicial Committee of the Privy CouncilA tribunal created in 1833 to hear certain admiralty and church appeals and appeals from Commonwealth countries. Its…
- judicial compensationThe pay judges receive for their work.
- judicial confessionA guilty plea, or some other direct admission of guilt made in court or in a judicial proceeding.
- judicial councilA body of judges meeting regularly to improve the working of the courts they sit on, above all the twice-yearly meeti…
- judicial dayA day on which legal proceedings may be held.
- judicial dictumA court's opinion on a question that was directly involved, briefed, argued, and even decided, but that was not essen…
- judicial discretionA judge's exercise of judgment according to what is fair in the circumstances, guided by the rules and principles of…
- judicial economyEfficiency in the running of the courts, especially the management of litigation so as to avoid duplicated effort and…
- judicial estoppelAn estoppel preventing a party from contradicting what they said earlier in the same or a later proceeding, where the…
- judicial evidenceEvidence produced in court, made up of all the facts brought to the tribunal's attention or admitted before it.
- judicial factA fact the court takes as proved without hearing evidence on it.
- judicial foreclosureA slow and expensive way of foreclosing, in which the mortgaged property is sold through a court case that runs the u…
- judicial immunityA judge's freedom from civil liability for acts done in carrying out judicial duties.
- judicial insuranceInsurance meant to protect litigants and others taking part in court proceedings.
- judicial jurisdictionA court's power to hear a case and give a decision that binds the parties.
- judicial knowledgeA court's acceptance of a well-known and indisputable fact without requiring proof of it, and the court's power to do…
- judicial legislationThe making of new legal rules by judges rather than by the legislature.
- judicial lienA lien obtained by judgment, levy, sequestration, or other legal or equitable process. Where a debtor has been adjudg…
- judicial mortgageIn civil law, a mortgage arising automatically from a judgment, which binds the debtor's immovable property as securi…
- judicial noticeA court's acceptance of a well-known and indisputable fact without requiring proof of it, and the court's power to do…
- judicial oathAn oath taken in the course of a judicial proceeding, above all in open court.
- judicial officerA judge or magistrate; more broadly, any officer of the court, such as a bailiff or court reporter.
- judicial opinionA court's written statement explaining its decision, usually setting out the facts, the points of law, the reasoning,…
- judicial orderA written direction or command issued by a court or judge.
- judicial powerThe authority of courts and judges to hear and decide cases and give binding judgments: the power to construe and app…
- judicial privilegeIn defamation law, the protection given to anything said in the course of and with reference to a judicial proceeding…
- judicial proceedingThe orderly progress of a lawsuit, taking in everything done between its start and the entry of judgment; also any pr…
- judicial processThe proceedings in an action or prosecution; also a summons or writ, above all one requiring a person to appear or re…
- judicial questionA question fit for a court to decide, as opposed to a moot one or one belonging to the executive or the legislature.
- judicial recordThe formal record in which a judge or clerk notes all the proceedings and filings in a case.
- judicial remedyA remedy a court grants, whether ordinary, as in an action for damages, or extraordinary, as in a suit for an injunct…
- judicial restraintA restraint a court imposes, as by a restraining order, injunction, or judgment. The phrase also names the principle…
- judicial reviewA court's power to review what other branches or levels of government have done, above all its power to strike down l…
- judicial saleA sale carried out under the authority of a judgment or court order, such as a sale on execution.
- judicial self-restraintA restraint a court imposes, as by a restraining order, injunction, or judgment. The phrase also names the principle…
- judicial separationAn arrangement under which a married couple live apart while remaining married, whether by agreement or by court decr…
- judicial sequestrationA court-ordered deposit of the property at stake in a lawsuit.
- judicial settlementThe settling of a civil case with the help of a judge other than the one who would try it. Parties often welcome the…
- judicial stackingThe principle that a court may read insurance policies as allowing claims to be stacked, even where the policies say…
- judicial trusteeA trustee whom a court appoints to carry out a trust.
- judicial writA writ issuing from the court to which the original writ was returnable, sealed with the court's own seal rather than…
- judicial-economy exceptionAn exception to the rule that only final judgments may be appealed, allowing immediate review of a non-final order wh…
- judicial-tenure commissionA body that receives complaints against judges, investigates them, and recommends to the jurisdiction's highest court…
- judicializationThe process of bringing something under the control of the courts, or of shaping a procedure to resemble a court's.
- judicializeTo model a procedure on a court of law, or to bring something that was outside the courts into the judicial system.
- judiciaryThe branch of government that interprets the laws and administers justice.
- judiciousWell considered; showing sound judgment and discretion.
- judiciousnessThe quality of showing sound judgment and discretion.
- judiciumA judgment; also a judicial proceeding or trial, and the court that holds it.
- judicium DeiGod's supposed judgment on the merits of a case, shown by the outcome of some ordeal. Trial by combat and the ordeal…
- judicium ecclesiasticumA proceeding in a church court.
- judicium pariumA judgment by one's peers; also a judicial proceeding or trial, and the court that holds it.
- judicium publicaIn Roman law, public prosecutions: proceedings for offenses against the state, which any citizen might bring.
- judicium publicumA criminal proceeding brought under a public statute. The name comes from the Roman rule allowing any member of the p…
- jugeIn French law, a judge.
- juge d'instructionIn French law, a magistrate who conducts the preliminary stages of a criminal case, taking complaints, questioning th…
- juge de paixIn French law, an inferior judge, above all a police magistrate.
- juicioIn Spanish law, a trial or suit.
- Julian calendarThe system of reckoning time introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C., under which every year has 365 days except those…
- jumbo certificateA certificate of deposit for $100,000 or more.
- jumbo mortgageA mortgage loan whose principal exceeds the ceiling for a government guarantee.
- jump bail(Of an accused person) to fail to appear in court when required, despite having posted bail and promised to attend.
- jump citationThe exact page on which a quotation or passage appears, as opposed to the page on which the case or article begins.
- jumping a claimTaking possession of public land that someone else has already claimed. The first occupant has the better right, both…
- juniorLower in rank or standing; subordinate.
- junior bondA bond ranking behind another in priority.
- junior counselThe younger or more junior of two or more lawyers on the same side of a case, usually handling its lesser parts. In E…
- junior creditorA creditor whose claim arose after another's, or whose debt ranks behind another's for payment.
- junior executionAn execution ranking behind another issued on an earlier judgment against the same debtor.
- junior interestAn interest ranking behind a senior one.
- junior lienA lien ranking behind an earlier one on the same property, so that it is paid only after the earlier lien is satisfied.
- junior mortgageA mortgage ranking behind another on the same property.
- junior partnerA partner whose share in the profits and in the running of the firm is limited.
- junior securityA security ranking behind a senior one.
- junior writA writ issued later than a similar one, whether by a different party or on a different claim against the same defendant.
- junk bondA high-risk, high-yield subordinated bond issued by a company with a rating below investment grade.
- jura majestatisRights of sovereignty: the powers belonging to the state as sovereign.
- jura mixti dominiiRights of mixed dominion: the sovereign's powers of jurisdiction, held partly as prerogative and partly in trust for…
- jura personarumRights of persons: the branch of law dealing with people's status and capacities.
- jura praediroumRights over land: the servitudes and other real rights that attach to an estate rather than to a person.
- jura regaliaRoyal rights: the prerogatives of the Crown.
- jura rerumRights over things: the branch of law dealing with rights in property.
- jura summi imperiiRights of supreme dominion: the highest powers of sovereignty in a state.
- juralHaving to do with law or with legal rights and obligations.
- jural actAn act done within, or in furtherance of, a society's legal system.
- jural activityAn act done within, or in furtherance of, a society's legal system.
- jural agentAn official with the standing in a society to enforce or affect its legal system, and who performs jural acts: judges…
- jural causeA cause direct enough to give rise to liability; one that produces an event and without which the event would not hav…
- juramentumIn civil law, an oath.
- juramentum corporalisA corporal oath: one sworn while touching the Bible or another sacred object.
- juramentum in litemAn oath by which a party swears to the value of the thing in dispute, taken where no other proof of value is available.
- juramentum judicialeAn oath by which the judge leaves the decision of the case to one party or the other.
- juratThe clause added to an affidavit or deposition stating when it was sworn and before what officer, in the form subscri…
- jurataA jury of twelve, above all at common law. The word also names the clause added to an affidavit stating when it was s…
- jurationAdministering an oath, or the taking of one.
- jurativeHaving to do with an oath, or containing one.
- juratorA person serving on a jury.
- juratoryHaving to do with an oath, or containing one.
- jureBy right, or in right; also by law.
- jure belliBy the right or law of war.
- jure divinoBy divine right.
- jure ecclesiaeIn right of the church.
- jure gestionisA state's commercial or private acts, as opposed to its public ones. Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act a for…
- jure imperiiA state's public or sovereign acts, done in the exercise of governmental authority. These are the acts for which a fo…
- jure repraesentationisBy right of representation: standing in the place of another person.
- juridicalHaving to do with judicial proceedings or with the administration of justice; also having to do with law generally.
- juridical dayA day on which legal proceedings may be held.
- juridical linkA legal connection between the members of a proposed class that makes one suit more efficient than many, as where a s…
- jurimetricsThe use of scientific or empirical methods, measurement above all, in studying legal questions.
- Juris DoctorThe law degree most American law schools confer.
- juris privatiOf private right: concerning private property or private law.
- juris publiciOf public right: concerning common or public use, or public law.
- Juris utriusque DoctorDoctor of both laws: a degree in the civil law and the canon law together.
- jurisconsultA person learned in the law, above all in the civil or international law.
- jurisdictionA government's power over the people and things within its territory; also a court's power to decide a case or make a…
- jurisdiction clauseAt law, the part of a pleading setting out the court's power to act in the case. In equity practice, the part of a bi…
- jurisdiction in personamA court's power to bring a person into its process: power over a defendant personally, rather than merely over property.
- jurisdiction in remA court's power over property lying within its territory, which lets it decide who owns the property or how it is to…
- jurisdiction of the personA court's power to bring a person into its process: power over a defendant personally, rather than merely over property.
- jurisdiction of the subject matterA court's power over the kind of case before it and the kind of relief sought: how far the court may rule on people's…
- jurisdiction over the personA court's power to bring a person into its process: power over a defendant personally, rather than merely over property.
- jurisdiction quasi in remA court's power resting on the defendant's interest in property within the state, which lets it decide claims against…
- jurisdictionalHaving to do with jurisdiction: concerning a court's power to hear and decide the matter.
- jurisdictional amountThe sum a claim must be worth before a court will have jurisdiction over it.
- jurisdictional factA fact that has to exist before a court can properly exercise jurisdiction over a case, a party, or a thing.
- jurisdictional gerrymanderingDrawing the boundaries of a court's or an authority's territory so as to give one side an advantage, as by shaping di…
- jurisdictional limitsThe geographic bounds, or the constitutional and statutory limits, within which a court may exercise its authority.
- jurisdictional pleaA plea asserting that the court has no jurisdiction over the defendant or over the subject matter.
- jurisdictional statementAt law, the part of a pleading setting out the court's power to act in the case. In equity practice, the part of a bi…
- jurisdictional strikeA strike arising from a dispute between rival unions over which of them the work belongs to.
- jurisinceptorA student of the civil law.
- jurisperitusSkilled or learned in the law.
- jurisprudeSomeone who makes a pretentious display of legal learning or takes legal doctrine too solemnly; also, more neutrally,…
- jurisprudenceOriginally, in the 18th century, the study of the first principles of natural law, the civil law, and the law of nati…
- jurisprudence constanteThe civil-law doctrine that a court should give great weight to a rule accepted and applied through a long line of ca…
- jurisprudence of conceptionsPushing a maxim or definition to its logical extreme with no regard for the consequences. Roscoe Pound appears to hav…
- jurisprudentA person learned in the law, or a specialist in jurisprudence.
- jurisprudentia generalisThe scholarly study of the fundamental elements of a legal system.
- jurisprudentia naturalisOriginally, in the 18th century, the study of the first principles of natural law, the civil law, and the law of nati…
- jurisprudentia universalisThe scholarly study of the fundamental elements of a legal system.
- juristA person with a thorough knowledge of the law, above all a judge or an eminent legal scholar.
- juristicHaving to do with a jurist, or with law generally.
- Juristic actAn act meant to create, transfer, or end a right, and legally effective in doing so; the exercise of a legal power.
- juristic personAn entity such as a company that the law creates and endows with rights and duties of its own, so that for the purpos…
- jurorA person serving on a jury.
- juror misconductA juror's breach of the court's directions or of the law, during the trial or in deliberations: talking about the cas…
- juryA group of people chosen according to law and given the power to decide questions of fact and return a verdict in the…
- jury boxThe enclosed part of a courtroom where the jury sits.
- jury challengeAn objection to a particular juror, or to the whole panel, on the ground that they are not lawfully qualified to serve.
- jury chargeThe set of instructions a judge gives the jury on the law it must apply.
- jury commissionerThe officer responsible for selecting the panels of potential jurors in a county.
- jury directionA direction the judge gives the jury on the law that governs the case and how to apply it to the facts.
- jury dutyThe duty to serve on a jury, and the actual service.
- jury feeA small fee a party must pay the court clerk to secure a jury trial.
- jury instructionA direction the judge gives the jury on the law that governs the case and how to apply it to the facts.
- jury listA list of the people who may be summoned to serve as jurors.
- jury nullificationA jury's deliberate refusal to follow the evidence or apply the law, whether to make a point about some larger social…
- jury of indictmentA body of people, often twenty-three, chosen to sit for at least a month and sometimes a year, who hear the prosecuti…
- jury of matronsA jury of women, formerly empaneled to decide questions such as whether a condemned woman was pregnant.
- jury of the vicinageAt common law, a jury drawn from the county where the crime happened; also a jury drawn from the county where the cou…
- jury panelThe group of people summoned for jury service, from whom the trial jury is chosen.
- jury pardonThe practice by which a jury convicts a defendant of a lesser offense than the one charged, though the evidence would…
- jury poolThe body of people selected for jury duty, from whom the jurors in a particular case are drawn.
- jury processThe procedure for summoning jurors and compelling their attendance; also the papers served or mailed to them for that…
- jury questionA question of fact for the jury to decide; also a particular question a court may put to a jury that is to return a s…
- jury sequestrationKeeping the jurors together and away from outside contact during a trial or deliberations, so that nothing beyond the…
- jury serviceThe duty to serve on a jury, and the actual service.
- jury summationA lawyer's closing address to the judge or jury before deliberations, urging that the evidence and the law be applied…
- jury trialA trial in which a jury, rather than the judge, decides the questions of fact.
- jury wheelA drum or electronic system used to hold the names of potential jurors and draw them at random.
- jury-fixingUnlawfully securing the cooperation of one or more jurors who then sway the outcome of the trial.
- jury-packingContriving to fill a jury with people already leaning toward one side.
- jury-tamperingTrying to corrupt or steer a jury toward a particular verdict by means other than evidence and argument in court, as…
- jurymanA person serving on a jury.
- jurywomanA woman serving on a jury, above all a member of a jury of matrons.
- jusLaw, or a right: the Latin word covers both the body of law and the particular rights it confers.
- jus angariaeThe right of angary: a belligerent's right to seize and use neutral property within its territory in case of necessit…
- jus communeIn Roman and civil law, the common or general law, as opposed to a rule made for a special purpose; also the common l…
- jus deliberandiThe right of an heir to time in which to decide whether to accept or renounce an inheritance.
- jus disponendiThe right to dispose of property: the power to sell, give, or otherwise part with it.
- jus dispositivumIn international law, a rule created by the consent of the participating states, as by treaty, and binding only on th…
- jus divinumGod's law, as distinguished from law made by human beings.
- jus duplicatumA double right: the right of possession joined to the right of property, so that the holder has both the thing and th…
- jus ecclesiasticumThe law of the church: the body of rules governing church officers, property, and discipline.
- jus ex non scriptoLaw that was never enacted as a statute or ordinance but has the force of custom. The phrase traditionally takes in c…
- jus fiduciariumIn civil law, a right held in trust for someone else.
- jus fruendiThe right to enjoy the fruits of property: to take its produce, income, or profits.
- jus gentium privatumPrivate international law: the rules deciding which country's law governs a private dispute touching more than one co…
- jus gentium publicumPublic international law: the rules governing relations between states.
- jus gladiiThe power to carry the law into execution, above all the power to inflict the death penalty. English law used the phr…
- jus hauriendiThe right to draw water from another's well or spring.
- jus honorariumIn Roman law, the body of law built up by the edicts of the senior magistrates, chiefly the praetors and the aediles.
- jus honorumIn Roman law, a citizen's right to hold public office.
- jus immunitatisThe right of exemption from a public burden or duty, such as freedom from taxation or from public service.
- jus in reA right in a thing itself, good against the world, as opposed to a mere right against a particular person.
- jus liberorumIn Roman law, the privileges granted to a citizen who had fathered or borne a set number of children, three at Rome a…
- jus maritiA husband's right to manage his wife's dowry property, which returned to her when the marriage ended by death or divo…
- jus merumA bare right in property, without possession or even the right to possession.
- jus moribus constitutumLaw resting on custom and usage rather than on any written enactment.
- jus naturaeThe law of nature: rules held to flow from human nature and reason rather than from any human enactment.
- jus necessitatisThe right to do what necessity requires, which no threat of punishment can be expected to prevent. It lies behind the…
- jus non scriptumLaw that was never enacted as a statute or ordinance but has the force of custom. The phrase traditionally takes in c…
- jus pascendiThe right of pasturing cattle on another's land.
- jus positivumLaw laid down and enforced within a political community by those with authority there, as distinct from moral law or…
- jus possessionisIn civil law, a right that possession itself creates: the possessor's right to stay in possession.
- jus publicumIn Roman and civil law, the public law: the law of crimes, of officials, of the priesthood, and of personal status. T…
- jus quaesitumA right to demand or recover something from a person under an obligation; also a right that has been acquired rather…
- jus relictaeA widow's right to a share of her dead husband's movable estate, taken independently of anything left to her by will.
- jus relictiIn civil and Scots law, a widower's right in his dead wife's separate movable estate: historically two-thirds where c…
- jus respondendiIn Roman law, the right the emperor granted to eminent jurists to give opinions that bound the judges who received them.
- jus talionisThe law of retaliation, under which the punishment matches the wrong: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
- jus vitae necisqueThe right of life and death: the power a Roman father held over the members of his household.
- jusjurandumAn oath.
- justLegally right, lawful, or fair.
- just causeA reason the law accepts as sufficient, above all as a ground for dismissing an employee.
- just compensationUnder the Fifth Amendment, fair payment by the government for property taken under eminent domain, usually its market…
- just desertsWhat a person truly deserves, above all the punishment earned by a crime.
- just titleIn prescription, a title the possessor took from someone honestly believed to be the true owner, and of a kind that w…
- just valueThe price a willing seller will take and a willing buyer will pay in an open, arm's-length deal.
- just warA war the side waging it considers morally and legally justified, as against an aggressive or tyrannical regime. Unde…
- just-as-probable ruleIn workers' compensation, the rule that a claim fails where a non-work cause of the injury is as likely as a work-rel…
- justae nuptiaeA marriage between two people each having the legal capacity to wed. It was the only union that created the family re…
- justiceThe fair and proper administration of the laws; also the title of a judge on certain courts.
- justice courtA court presided over by a justice of the peace, hearing claims for small sums or certain specified matters such as s…
- justice ejectmentA statutory proceeding to remove a tenant who has stayed on after the lease ended or has broken its conditions.
- justice in eyreOne of the itinerant judges who in medieval England rode circuit to investigate wrongdoing, try cases, and levy fines.
- justice in personamJustice as between the parties to a particular dispute, without regard to any wider principle at stake.
- justice in remJustice measured against a moral principle applying to everyone, such as that all people are equal.
- justice of the peaceA local judicial officer with power over minor criminal offenses and small civil disputes, who also performs routine…
- justice of the quorumA distinction given to a justice of the peace by naming them in the commission for quarter sessions as one of those w…
- justice-brokerA judge who sells judicial decisions.
- justice-of-the-peace courtA court presided over by a justice of the peace, with power to hear small money claims and certain specified actions…
- justicerA person who administers justice: a judge.
- justiceshipThe office or authority of a justice, and the period during which it is held.
- Justicia erranteOne of the itinerant judges who rode circuit to hold court in the counties.
- justiciabilityThe quality of being fit for a court to decide.
- justiciableOf a case or dispute, properly brought before a court and capable of being decided by one.
- justiciarA royal judicial officer in medieval England, above all one presiding over a superior court.
- justiciar in itinereA royal justice who rode circuit to hold court in the counties.
- justiciaryHaving to do with the administration of justice, or with the law.
- justicierA royal judicial officer in medieval England, above all one presiding over a superior court.
- justiciesA writ empowering a sheriff to hear certain debt cases in the county court. It took its name from its opening words,…
- justicing roomA room where cases are heard and justice done, above all such a room in a justice of the peace's own house.
- justifiableCapable of being justified in law or morals; defensible.
- justifiable homicideA killing the law approves rather than merely excuses, such as one done in reasonable self-defense or carried out und…
- justificationA lawful or sufficient reason for what one did or failed to do; also the showing in court of a sufficient reason for…
- justification defenseIn criminal and tort law, a defense arising where the defendant acted in a way the law does not seek to prevent. Cons…
- justificatorA compurgator who swears in support of an accused person; also, in some usage, a juror.
- justificatoryServing to justify: offering a lawful or sufficient reason for what was done.
- Justinian CodeThe collection of imperial constitutions drawn up by a commission of ten that Justinian appointed, published in 529 A…
- JustinianistA person learned in Justinian's codification, or more broadly one trained in the civil law.
- justitia denegataIn international law, a failure in a country's courts or administration of justice that leaves it in breach of its du…
- justitia naturalisJustice as defined in a moral rather than a legal sense.
- justitiumA pause in the work of the courts, as during a vacation.
- juvenileA person below the age, usually 18, at which the criminal justice system treats someone as an adult.
- juvenile courtA court dealing with cases involving children below a set age, usually 18.
- juvenile delinquencyAntisocial behavior by a minor, above all conduct that would be a crime in an adult but is dealt with instead under l…
- juvenile delinquentA minor found to have committed criminal conduct, dealt with under laws made for children rather than adults.
- juvenile officerA juvenile-court employee who works with the judge in directing and developing the court's child-welfare work.
- juvenile paroleThe release of a juvenile offender from confinement on conditions.
- juvenile petitionA petition filed in a juvenile court alleging delinquent conduct. Its allegations are tried at an adjudicatory hearing.
- juxtapositionPlacing two or more things side by side. In patent law the word describes an invention that merely sets known element…
- juzgadoThe bench of judges: those who join in a decision.